Sunday, June 17, 2018

How often have we heard the expression “this is completely out of control”?

A crisis of any magnitude can hit an organisation where it
hurts without a moment’s notice and it doesn’t take long to lose control.The only protection is a well-rehearsed
crisis management plan.

In a matter of minutes, a serious incident or emergency can
run out of control and seriously disrupt a business with catastrophic
effect.In some cases, it takes years to
recover.

The right response actions can minimise serious damage and
can quickly put an organisation in control of its destiny.Management needs to consider the organisation
strategically and ask what is the worst thing that could possibly happen.Fire, financial problems, lawsuits, cyber crisis, product
defect, sexual harassment, act of violence, terrorism, security breach,
technology collapse, executive misconduct or environmental issues to name a
few.With the most likely threats in
mind, management can prepare strategies to avoid or manage a potential problem
and control the agenda.

Reading between the lines in today’s media reports of
crises, it is easy to see which organisations have anticipated the problem and
have a planning process in place to deal with it.If an organisation is ready, then there will
be a clear message about what is being done and who is doing it.

It is not just large organisations that need to have
comprehensive and integrated crisis management plans.All organisations need to anticipate
crises.It is so important that small
and medium-sized organisations look at their worst case scenarios - the service industry, government,
educational institutions, professional firms and research organisations.They often face the greatest damage from a
negative event because they may lack the financial and managerial support
required to respond and recover efficiently.

Ownership of crisis management planning must come from the
top because most crises end up at the top. The top global executives recognise that crisis management is a corporate
governance strategy and endorse its implementation.They know that a crisis out of control is
liable to lead to loss of profits, lawsuits, loss of market share,serious loss of reputation and, in many
cases, loss of senior jobs.After
writing numerous plans for organisations, I am totally convinced that unless
complete support of the Chief Executive and top management is assured, the
crisis management program will flounder and never reach its currency.The day the Chief Executive or Managing
Director endorses the organisation’s intentions to install a crisis management
program is the day it really happens.

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

In a matter of minutes, a serious incident or emergency can run out of control and seriously disrupt a business or organisation with catastrophic effect. In some cases, it takes years to recover.

The right response actions can minimise serious damage and can quickly put an organisation in control of its destiny. Management needs to consider the organisation strategically and ask what is the worst thing that could possibly happen. Fire, financial problems, lawsuits, product defect, sexual harassment, act of violence, terrorism, security breach, technology collapse, executive misconduct or environmental issues to name a few. With the most likely threats in mind, management can prepare strategies to avoid or manage a potential problem and control the agenda.

Reading between the lines in today’s media and social media reports of crises, it is easy to see which organisations have anticipated the problem and have a planning process in place to deal with it. If an organisation is ready, then there will be a clear message about what is being done and who is doing it.

It is not just large organisations that need to have comprehensive and integrated crisis management plans. All organisations need to anticipate crises. It is so important that small and medium-sized organisations look at their worst-case scenarios. The service industry, local government, educational institutions, professional firms and research organisations.

The simple questions I would ask any organisation related to crisis management are:

what is the worst-case scenario that could hit your organisation?

what is the most inconvenient time for this to happen?

do you have a plan to deal with it?

who will lead your response?

can you contact your key stakeholders rapidly?

where will you manage the response from?

have you identified ways to continuing to run your business?

what are your short-term and long-term recovery goals?

The keys to successful crisis management are fast, strategic response from top management, accuracy of information, putting people first and protecting brand and reputation. Credibility in crisis means being ready to handle the worst-case scenario.

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

The
potential eruption of a volcano in a popular tourist area is a crisis that
require decisions of great consequence to be made on the basis of rapidly changing information,
often under extreme time pressure and frequently under the intense scrutiny of the travelling public and social and news media.

This
escalating threat is facing the island of Bali in Indonesia at the present
time. Mount Agung has been in the initial stages of eruption since early September.
Over 100,000 people have been evacuated. Mount Agung last erupted in 1963,
killing 1,000 people. Millions of people travel to this idyllic tourist
destination each year.

Bali emergency
authorities and the Indonesian Government have worked to reduce the risk of the
eruption on residents and tourists through effective emergency and security
response. Clearly they have developed policies and procedures necessary to
resolve the problems related to an imminent disaster.

I was on
the island a few weeks ago and was impressed by the knowledge locals had about
plans and preparations for evacuation response. I was highly impressed with the polite and
well-prepared updates on dampening down the fear and concern visitors to the
island may experience.

This is one
of the communications delivered to my hotel room not long after my arrival:

“Dear Guests,

Bali is still safe for tourism.

The volcano has not erupted and there is no volcanic ash.

Mount Agung is 72 km. from Seminyak and 32 km. from Ubud. Flights in and out of
Bali’s international airport remain normal.

Even if the volcano erupted, it would not affect aviation unless there is
volcanic ash.

Nine alternative airports have been prepared for diverted flights. 300 buses
will be available to transport travellers to ferry ports.

Bali tourism is safe. Do not trust
misleading news.”

This
crisis could arrive at any time: and it
could come at any speed. It can strike
without warning and destroy people and property. It is through planning that an
island like Bali can anticipate and reduce the impact of that crisis and
hopefully preserve its tourism identity and brand as being a safe place to be
or to come back to. Bali is prepared.

“BY FAILING TO PREPARE YOU ARE PREPARING TO FAIL" – Benjamin Franklin.

Thursday, July 13, 2017

During the Second World War, Britain's Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, took constant naps at the peak of his performance in the War Room, deep beneath London. Leadership in a crisis can only be achieved if a leader is prepared to keep a flexible and rested mind.

Having a single-minded sense of purpose from a leader signals an organisation that is ready to deal with the worst. So what does the CEO need to consider in the face of a major crisis?

·The primary role is to provide corporate oversight and direction on resolving the
problem and to minimise the impact on the corporate reputation, the community,
employees, assets and share value.

·Immediately, it is important to confirm the real situation. Getting accurate facts is sometimes difficult
when the pressure is all around, however analysing the facts and identifying
objectives has to be a key corporate consideration in the early stages.

·Two streams of action are needed - one to manage the crisis
response and one to manage the daily business. Life goes on, and although a crisis can stop
an organisation in its tracks, business resumption is essential and part of the
immediate recovery process.

·Take into consideration at all times the corporate position. Confirm
the message strategy and make sure that one spokesperson is giving a clear,
consistent message right across all stakeholder audiences. The CEO should take the role of spokesperson if the situation is critical.

·Research how the crisis is affecting the company’s audiences. Qualitative research
can be very important here. Engaging research to monitor attitudes to the
response can be invaluable on the road to recovery.

·Be prepared to lose business and market share initially to gain maximum
results in your response. (Johnson &
Johnson withdrew the Tylenol product in the US after the extortion poisoning,
initially losing market share. They
repackaged in tamper-proof packs under government supervision and quickly
regained brand reputation and market share.)

·Take the initiative. Be prepared
to tell it as it is. Show the
stakeholders what you are doing and why you are doing it. Emphasise and speak in language the community
understands. Clarify information rather
than promise results.

·Don’t let lawyers slow down the crisis agenda. Take good legal advice but avoid being gagged
on disclosure.

·Importantly, don’t lose control of yourself or your temper. Overreaction can cause confusion in the
response process and a lack of confidence in the direction. There will be dramatic changes in information
and they have to be dealt with responsibly.

·Keep a close eye on your competitors.
They will use your crisis time as an opportunity.

·Get on top of your financial audience before they are lead by business
analysts, academics and financial journalists.
Help the financial analysts, the banks and your insurers understand that
you are on top of the issues and controlling market vulnerabilities.

·Enlist industry and government support.
Make sure your industry and the government understand the seriousness of
your problem and do all they can to support your recovery.

·Most of all, think ahead. Use
lateral thinking to both interpret unintended consequences and how the business
may finish up. Direct your recovery team
to start building bridges and repairing reputation now.

As Winston Churchill said - "we know it will be hard; we expect it to be long, we cannot predict or

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Employees and families must be told of a crisis
first and fast. Responsible crisis
planning requires management to report on the importance of a critical situation
to every level of the organisation quickly and efficiently.

Rumour and innuendo need to be controlled
with the same efficiency that an emergency crew uses to deal with a fire.And it means a level of communication that
many managers may not have applied before.Sensitivity and strength of message will produce positive results.

In a world of social media, “tell ‘em nothing” or
“we’ll let them know later” is a certain recipe for disaster.Addressing employee issues first will enlist
an army of support.In the case of a
company that is going through a major accident with fatalities in the workplace, the first people the media will seek out for
information are employees.If employees
have a clear idea of what has happened, then facts lead the story instead of
scandal and hearsay.

Employees form their own opinions quickly. Will the crisis destroy the organisation and
will they have a job? Is the company
responsible? Having a plan of action in
place to address employees’ concerns enables a company to move the message to
its other stakeholders with the confidence that the whole organisation
understands the situation. It also
assists in the recovery and business resumption process because employees are
more willing to return to a normal work environment. Also, if people are better informed, they are
considerably more willing to assist in getting the company back on track again.

This
is a highly sensitive communication area, and should be handled by company
executives where company personnel are involved.

Certainly
there are trained counsellors who understand exactly how to approach the
sensitive problem of communicating bad news.
This tragic and sensitive job is often handed to a young police officer
who is usually ill-experienced and ill-prepared to present the bad news to a
family.

Neither
is the police officer prepared to cope with what might follow in terms of a
serious emotional response, physical collapse or at worst, an asthma or heart
attack.

A lesson from a woman in a distant mining town
who tells the story about a policeman waking her from a deep sleep in the early
hours of the morning.

Upon opening the door and recognising the local
officer, he presented the news to the half-awake recipient: “Sorry to tell you
that your daughter’s been killed in a road smash near the town and I’ve got to
get back there fast”.

The policeman had his job to do and couldn’t be
in two places at once so he left the highly distressed and shocked woman to
deal with this tragedy on her own, alone.

She waited for the morning to come, and after
pulling herself together, walked through the local supermarket looking for some
contact with the people of the town.

The few people in the supermarket avoided her
with deliberation. They had heard about
the story but did not have the ability or the strength of mind to face this
woman. It wasn’t until later that day
that real help arrived on her doorstep - some of the wives of the mining
community got together and gave her the support that should have come hours
before.

It is
law in most countries that the police are required to notify families regarding
a fatality first. But this should not be left only to emergency services
personnel, or, even worse, by way of news broadcasts, to deliver the bad news. Companies need to send their own management
team to employees' homes or the hospital to support police and emergency services regarding an accident in the
workplace. Management training on counselling techniques should be
undertaken. Qualified counsellors should
assist in the training process. The following
are suggested guidelines:

·Develop the message so that it is delivered
sensitively.

·Two people should attend when delivering bad news.

·Deliver the message as quickly and concisely as
possible.

·If possible do not allow the receiver of bad news
to go to the scene of the incident.

·Arrange as soon as possible, monetary, welfare
and counselling assistance.

·Stay in contact with victims after the incident.

Remember
employees and victims’ families must be told about crises first and fast. The
first question media will ask is – “have you informed your employees’ families”?
What will be your answer?

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

A crisis in another country often does not fit into
any known framework. The organisational
response, therefore, has to deal with the problem of finding people to manage
the problem at the same time as anticipating the escalation factor and
providing support for the most exposed aspects of the business.

There is simply little time for planning,
organising, equipping or training once the crisis is imminent.

Importantly, the crisis management approach needs to
ensure that the various operations and projects of an international operation
are in a constant state of readiness and that crisis teams know what to do and
how to do it.

Basically, the objectives of any plan should be to
protect the company’s people and assets.

Because international business management and
employees could be cut off for long periods from the parent company by failure
of communication lines, it is important that teams are trained in advance to
follow prescribed guidelines in their crisis response. The way in which the
crisis is tackled will depend on the quality of training and briefing for the
crisis teams before the event.

The plan needs to clearly establish authority and
responsibilities at every level. It is
useful here to define mobilisation actions and list contact points with details
about communication links and notification procedures.

Interfacing with external agencies is an essential part of crisis planning in other countries because the crisis management
response may well include support systems from embassies or law enforcement
agencies. But this interface with expected support from your embassy or consulate may not be reliable and needs to be confirmed well in advance of an incident. Setting these communication
links up in advance is vital to the success of the plan.

The plan should contain details of the organisation's team roles
and responsibilities, setting out the core action group at each location who
are responsible for managing the problem.
It will be their responsibility to assess the situation and respond
accordingly with the necessary resources required. They will also need to contact and
communicate other teams in the region and the necessary stakeholders affected,
including Head Office in the home country.

In some cases, the crisis management team may only
be one or two people. This is particularly the case for small offices, exploration, research
or transport teams working in far distant locations. It is still important that these teams
have an understanding on how to pinpoint a crisis and what on-the-spot actions
they have to achieve to protect life and ongoing operations.

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

In
this borderless world, crisis events escalate within minutes and threaten the
most complex companies and organisations. Whether it be an exploding phone, fraud
at one of the world’s largest banks, a disaster in an amusement park or an act
of international terrorism - high level management preparation, through a
Crisis Management Plan, is vital, particularly for CEOs, corporate boards or
government administrations.

If
crisis management is to be taken seriously and installed efficiently, it must
come from and be part of the people who run the business. After all, in the end, it is those people who
will have to manage the crisis when it reaches its most ferocious point.

The
corporate crisis plan has to be part of company good governance and policy and
those who are involved in its creation, instalment, and ongoing delivery, need
to have their accountability listed in their job description.

A
crisis plan must be simple and easy-to-use.
People have less time and less attention span to be confused by
long-winded, long-worded, jargon written instructions. The plan needs common language that simply
and easily identifies the goals and objectives, the methods of delivery and
implementation, and the ongoing evaluation and continuity.

Accountability
is essential. Senior management
personnel must be given the time and the authority to be accountable for the ownership
of this plan. Once a senior manager is
given the responsibility of validating a crisis management plan, he or she
should be supported and assisted in the review by a dedicated, professional
outside crisis management consultancy. This should not be a PR or emergency
management consultancy but more a provider focused on delivering a strategic
process.

A
crisis management budget needs to be set and approved. Some organisations may prefer to link the
crisis management budget with the legal or risk management function. Others may associate it with good corporate
governance and build it into the corporate affairs and public policy area. Some may prefer it to be associated with company
secretary or corporate finance. Manufacturing companies may link their crisis
management plan with their marketing and product recall function.

The
crisis management plan must be capable of application at every office, branch, site,
and location. Just as Head Office has a
role to play in managing corporate and business crises, so do divisional
offices, branches, plants, and major sites in managing the same responsibility
on the spot. When a crisis happens, it
must be handled quickly where it
happens. If the location or site is not
given the authority to act, valuable time will be lost and ultimately the
control and the agenda may move to another negative party.

Every
crisis plan needs to have a maintenance process. It must be acceptable to internal auditors,
outside auditors, senior management and endorsed by the Board of Directors.

Education
of team members and support groups needs to be an ongoing process.Once the Team Leader and core team members
have been familiarised with their roles and responsibilities, it is necessary
to test and review these functions regularly.Most teams are tested at least one or two times a year with either a desk-top
exercise or full-scale simulation.

Every
crisis team at every location will rely enormously on resources. Control room facilities such as whiteboards, IT
connections and telephones, are all part of the resource kit.

At
RCA, our professionals are recognised experts at installing, developing, and
maintaining corporate crisis management teams. We are routinely asked to
provide counsel on escalating issues and crises.

About Me

Ross Campbell is Principal and CEO of RCA Crisis Management, a crisis management consulting firm specialising in response strategies and pre-crisis training for many global companies and government. With his team of specialist consultants, he trains hundreds of CEOs and executives at head offices and sites. He is author of CRISIS CONTROL - PREVENTING AND MANAGING CORPORATE CRISES (published by Penguin).